Investigator: Tracking down Nate Summerfield

WADSWORTH -- Now that Nate Summerfield has been captured, the question still remains -- where has he been all this time?

Summerfield, wanted in the murder of girlfriend Lynn Jackenheimer, was arrested Wednesday in a motel room about 35 miles from his home in Ashland.

Investigators followed hundreds of leads before tracking down Summerfield in Room 211 at the Legacy Inn Suites in Wadsworth.

But U.S. Marshal Pete Elliot says it's clear that Summerfield left Ohio before coming home to hide.

"We have never felt that we had him until we arrested him yesterday," Elliott says. "People thought they had sightings of him in Columbus, West Virginia, Michigan, and all over the country."

Jackenheimer disappeared while on a vacation to the Outer Banks with Summerfield, her teenage daughter, and a son that the couple had together. He returned with the children on July 8 without Jackenheimer.

So where exactly was Summerfield since being spotted at this Ashland ATM after dropping his kids off with a brother?

"He could have been anywhere," says Elliott.

Authorities say they found his grey Honda Civic in Western Michigan near the Indiana border. The trail was cold by the time they found it on Aug. 8 in a Meijer store parking lot.

"It looked and appeared like it was sitting there for at least a couple weeks," the marshal says.

There is some hope of following his path. A returned search warrant says police seized a cell phone and $500 with a receipt after Summerfield's arrest. Elliott says the cell phone might give clues of where Summerfield was, and whether he had help.

"That's something that could be followed up on."

Elliott gave few clues on how they found Summerfield. That information could be included in a sworn affidavit that was used to obtain a search warrant. A court sealed the affidavit Thursday morning.

Nor would the marshal say whether the feds were working with someone close to Summerfield in hopes of nailing him.

A man staying at the hotel told Channel 3 News that he saw someone leaving in a red pick-up truck just before Summerfield was busted. Elliott says he had no personal knowledge of that.